News from Davidsons

Simpler BAS starts on 1 July

04 July 2017

The Australian Taxation Office are introducing new Simpler BAS reporting from 1 July 2017. What does Simpler BAS reporting mean? It means that the GST information you report on your BAS currently is being reduced. You will no longer need to report on items such as GST Free sales or break down purchases between capital and non-capital.

With Simpler BAS, you only need to report the following GST information on your BAS:

G1 Total Sales

1A GST on sales

1B GST on purchases

Who is eligible for these changes?

If your annual GST turnover is less than $10 million you will be transitioned to the Simpler BAS reporting automatically, you do not need to request this change with the ATO.

If you lodge online the ATO will automatically update the BAS requiring less GST information.

If you lodge by paper you will only need to complete the new required pieces of information.

It is important to note that Simpler BAS will not affect how other taxes are reported or how often you submit your activity statements.

Further, the obligations in relation to the records you keep and the accuracy of the information you report on your activity statements remain the same.

Ultimately this change to Simpler BAS will reduce the number of GST boxes you complete when preparing your BAS but it will not change your record keeping obligations or processes taken to establish your GST position each BAS cycle.

Do you need to do anything to be ready for the changes?

The change to Simpler BAS will happen automatically for eligible taxpayers but there are some things you can consider doing to assist the change.

You can review your bookkeeping and accounting software to confirm whether it is being updated to reflect the Simpler BAS template and relevant GST codes. This may require having to make an update to your software to gain access to the latest changes.

You may consider switching to an accounting software program if you are using a manual bookkeeping system.

You can review the ATO information in relation to the changes which includes a short video at ato.gov.au/simplerBAS

Lastly, you can contact the team at Davidsons to ask any questions or obtain assistance in relation to these changes. You can make contact with your team member or email us at info@davidsons.com.au.